Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Shares Sold by Bamco Inc. NY

Bamco Inc. NY trimmed its holdings in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 576,241 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 931 shares during the quarter. Microsoft accounts for approximately 0.6% of Bamco Inc. NY's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Bamco Inc. NY's holdings in Microsoft were worth $242,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSFT. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. raised its position in Microsoft by 0.3% in the second quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 12,658 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $5,658,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 410.4% during the third quarter. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 2,659 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 3,143 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,325,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co of the South grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 19,411 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $8,182,000 after buying an additional 4,147 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Microsoft from $475.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Microsoft from $550.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 13,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $452.01, for a total value of $5,985,968.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,481,631. This represents a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bradford L. Smith sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $433.17, for a total value of $2,599,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 471,036 shares in the company, valued at $204,038,664.12. This represents a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 135,743 shares of company stock valued at $60,224,683. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of MSFT opened at $474.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. Microsoft Co. has a 52-week low of $344.79 and a 52-week high of $480.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $428.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.55.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software giant reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $70.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.54 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.94 EPS. Research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Microsoft's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.66%.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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